Beyond the Flames
by Rehua
Summary: [OCs][some Zutara]Amara is the young firebender who has a deadly secret, one hidden behind her amber eyes that may even lead to the destruction of cities, forests, and relationships. But behind those dark tales... is hope.
1. The Burning

Fire Nation tanks were lined up around the camp… no where to run, no where to hide. They, being Aang, Katara, Sokka, and the newly acquired Amara, had to stand and fight… not that they had a choice. Now, if you are reading this, I am sure you know of Aang, Katara, and Sokka. But if you don't, then I suggest you go off to read something on Tyto Alba, or possibly Ara Macao. Or perhaps you'd have fun reading about Canis Lupis or Strix Occidentalis? Either way… I am sure many of you don't exactly know who Amara is. Now, if I told you she was a firebender, you would surely know she was of the Fire Nation, right? Wrong. Sorry, but she is no murderess killer like the lot of them. In fact, she hates the Fire Nation more than she hates… well… things she hates.

The fact is that at this moment, Amara was actually **helping **them in defeating the oncoming tanks. A firebender helping Aang? Nope, that's no typo. Amara was a full blooded firebender, yet here she was, helping them.

And even as the tanks edged closer to them, the blonde firebender was defending the group. She was, in fact, an ally. Katara herself was using some nice waterbending, and had already taken out some of the tanks, while Sokka threw multiple weapons, mostly consisting of his boomerang. Aang had taken this chance to practice some waterbending of his own, and ended up in drenching a few troops wielding flames from the inside of the tank. Amara preferred her own firebending methods; a combination of kicks and punches that released yellow and red flames, a lick of blue at the center of the hottest ones, careful to keep the fire away from the others.

Four tanks had closed in on the young airbender though, and Amara turned to see the fire heating up inside them, Katara too realizing this, and assisted in taking them out, her only source of water being the spilled liquid from the containers. As the waterbender shot ice daggers inside the tanks, Amara blasted a fireball and redirected a flame away from Aang, Sokka himself struggling to fend off the oncoming battalion. "Aang, get out of there!" Amara shouted and proceeded on blasting away another flame, Katara taking out a second tank.

A slight silence passed around them as the battle seemed to come to a halt, the tanks stopped moving and the group pausing, knowing well to wait for what may happen next. But the tanks merely filtered around them, and moved on to somewhere off in the distance, and Katara stared as Sokka sat in the grass, Amara herself scoffing at their cowardly retreat. "Our camp is destroyed, the tanks almost killed us, and now we're stuck in the middle of no where without food or a map. Now what?" It was always like Sokka to speak of the obvious, but he had a point. Appa was tired from smashing a few tanks himself, and even if the flying bison was fit to fly, they had no idea where they were, or where the nearest town was. Usually this wouldn't be that big of a problem, but without food, and without a nearby stream for water, there was going to be problems.

The fur-lined sleeping bags sat side by side in the clearing under the moon's watchful eye, singed and torn, a flame flickering on the hood of one, before a soft wind turned it into smoke that lined the stars. A few fruits were smashed, left to the ants and meadow mice to feast on, and the water had been flooded everywhere, four containers either singed or ripped open. Black soot was everywhere, yet had ceased from falling from the sky, and all the group could do was wait.

Aang never did speak to Amara though, even when the firebender offered to go out and search for water or food. It was a bitter silence, and Katara and Sokka knew why, but treated Amara like nothing happened, for her sake. _Perhaps it will be better by morning… _Amara thought as she wandered off into the thick brush, hoping to find berries of some sort, or maybe look over to see a stream. But she found no such thing, and only dared to venture deeper, until she came upon a small cluttered forest of trees. No fruit hung from them, not even leechy nuts. Only the green leaves rustling in a soft whisper of the wind. A deep sigh came from the girl as she walked forward, following the trail of what looked like a rabbit, knowing well that it could lead her to water. But the footprints ended at the edge of a hole, the rabbit's home, and Amara couldn't even hear the slightest drop of water, or the sound of the liquid running over smooth, river rocks.

With a heavy heart and aching legs, she wandered back to the wrecked camp, empty handed as her blonde hair, usually found in a pony tail, slipped from her hair tie and fell loosely around her shoulders, shaking her head as Sokka opened his mouth to speak, but the silence still hung around like a ghost, wandering through them and taking hold of the still air. Aang glanced over at Amara and whispered something barely audible. "You lied…" he said harshly, then turned around and lay down in the grass, closing his grey eyes and tried hard to sleep as Amara stared, no expression on her face; no look of hurt or regret, but deep inside screaming. _I'm sorry, _she thought briefly and took her place far away from the group, laying softly in the grass and looked up at the glimmering stars that dotted the sky.

_I'm sorry._


	2. The Shattering

Silence had filtered through the air long after the battle… but this one, was greater. It was growing, spreading, like a wild fire that blazed through the trees. The only sound Amara woke up to was the soft whisper of the wind before the air became still once more. The young girl, around thirteen, had awoken suddenly in the middle of the night. Something was wrong. Her amber eyes darted over to where Aang had lay down to sleep… but all that was left was an indent in the tall grass.

_Great… now where did he go? _ The question remained, lingering in her head as she sat up and looked over at where Appa had been eating before she had closed her eyes. _He's gone too? Wait… Katara? Sokka? _By this point the firebender had stood up and was walking around camp, scanning the land for signs of anyone. A cricket chirped briefly in the distance, breaking the silence for a split second, but unfortunately, it returned quickly.

Amara had given up, and decided that they probably left without her. She mumbled something under her breath, barely audible to even the keenest owl. For now, the firebender would wander off, seeing as she was not wanted.

_Oh sure, find water now… _the girl thought sarcastically as she came across a small pond, looking into the depths as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and whipped some dirt from her face. But something in there caught her attention. As she stared harder, she saw something shining at the bottom. Glancing around quickly, Amara pushed her hand into the water, grimacing as she broke through the algae covering the surface, and grabbed the item with her hand, quickly pulling it back up. There was a carving hanging from a strap, and she washed the bits of dirt from it to further identify the carving. A slight gasp came from her as she recognized the necklace.

_Katara's necklace!_

Shoving the necklace into her leather pouch, Amara ran back to the camp site, luckily finding her way back through the thickets and rocks. "Maybe I can find something that will tell me what happened.." she muttered softly, down on her hands and knees as she searched the grasses for **anything**. There was still scorched land from the battle the day before, but nothing more. Suspicion hung around a silent dread as she searched, but ended up finding no more than singed grass. "What the heck happened here?"

"I can answer that."

Amara spun around with a glare on her face, meeting a boy, no more than sixteen, who's face was burden with scars; the largest of which the one that circled his entire left eye and ear. What was even more disturbing was the Fire Nation armor he wore. _Great, just what I need… more people on the trail of the avatar._ Her glare was still held as she stood up slowly, amber eyes locked on the scarred person.

"What do you want?"

"I already have what I came for… but I can't let you be galloping off and telling everyone, now can I?"

The glare disappeared from Amara's face as she took a step back, her heel landing in the water that had spilled from the containers as she stared at him. "Who... are you?" she asked briefly, not entirely wanting to believe the Fire Nation captured Aang. "That is not needed at the time," he muttered harshly, a smirk appearing on his face as he started to walked towards her. Amara immediately turned and ran, crashing through the underbrush and picked up speed upon hearing the Fire Nation boy's footsteps behind her.

_Please don't let him be a firebender… _she prayed silently, knowing that if he was, she wouldn't be getting away. But perhaps she could fight back,

But her prayer would not be heard, the scarred sixteen year old blasting a flame from his fists, knowing it was too easy. Amara was blasted into the side of a tree, her head colliding with the trunk hard as blood ran down her arm, groaning lightly as she fell to the ground with a soft thud, leaning against the tree as she watched the firebender teen come towards her.

"Glad to meet you…" Zuko began, smirking as she came to the unconscious girl. "Amara."


	3. The Capture

_The ruins of a temple long gone lay shattered in the woodland, stones cracked and fallen, overgrown with grass and weeds. The tallest and oldest trees nearby had seen this place when it was standing tall and proud. They had also seen the horrors of the day of the battle, the day when the Fire Nation launched their first attack. It was in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, undisturbed and untouched for years and years. But there, a wolf lay among the ruins, singing songs to the twilight as a Barn Owl with a face that held the moon itself looked down and grieved. As dawn approached, the skyline turned blood red, and shadows were cast over the land, darkness coming and going quickly. When light returned, the wolf was gone, and the Barn Owl had disappeared, silence still and cold in the forest. _

_A bright flash blazed across the sky, and the screech of a hawk tore the land. In his talons was a girl, one whom he had befriended and saved the life of. But now, hell was set upon the land as they flew, and flames erupted from no where. A yellow flash blinded them for a second, and the hawk turned into a boy; an airbender. He held onto the firebender in his arms, his glider singed and burned, a spark of fire burning a hole in one end. To the girl, he whispered "Perhaps this is not the end, my friend. Maybe we will meet again, in the next lifetime… I'll come for you…" he smiled at the girl in his arms, the twelve year old, only one year younger than he, who was crying softly. She knew as the sky fell around them, they would be next. _

"_I know you will." She whispered back as another flame was sent hurdling their way, this time burning through the right wing of the airbender's glider. The sun did not rise that day. The horizon lay covered in blood and fire, torn and singed as ash lay on the ground. A dim screaming soon turned into the howl of the wolf at the ruins, and the world seemed to collapse._

As the howl ended Amara jolted upright, breathing heavily as she looked around the room. _It was just a dream… _Good. She never wanted to relive that horrid day. Never. Once was enough and if she had the choice, she would have made sure it never had happened. But life wasn't like that, and neither was it kind to her.

The firebender's amber eyes blinked once or twice as she looked around the room, finding the Fire Nation symbol plastered on the wall, as well as herself in a soft bed by the wall in one corner of the room. She tried hard to remember all that happened, but nothing after being smashed into the tree came to her. Amara had been set in the room; just put into bed and left alone. _What kind of kidnapper is stupid enough to do that? There must be guards around or something. _The thought streamed through her head as she stood up, walking to the door, expecting to find it locked, but as she turned the knob, the door easily popped open.

_Okay, something is wrong here, _she thought once more, glancing briefly outside before stepping into the hall, careful to be silent as she did so, knowing well to be quiet incase there were others around. Amara looked down the hallway, raising an eyebrow as she waited for something to happen. "I see you've finally woken up," the voice of the Fire Nation prince echoed on the ship, Amara herself turning around on one foot as she faced him, expressionless as he walked up to her.

Wait… that voice. She knew that voice! Why hadn't she realized it last night? There was no way in hell this was him! His face… what happened? Sure she had heard rumors of the Agni Kai between him and his father, but never believed that **this **would happen. "Zuko? " The mere mentions of his name made her shiver, taking a step back. When no answer was heard, Amara turned and ran down the hall, finding the stairway as she ran up to get to the entrance of the dock, but two guards planted spears in her way, knocking her down the steps as she landed on the ground, sitting up slowly as she looked over at Zuko. "What have you done with Aang! Tell me now!" she screamed at him, standing up and wiping some blood from her mouth.

"What's the fun of just telling you when I can keep you guessing?" the prince replied with a smirk, enjoying their little game, having not to worry about the Avatar escaping. Ever since Zhao had been killed at the North Pole, no one was in his way of capturing and turning in the airbender. Actually, this time, it had been easy to find him, after the Fire Nation troops alerted one of his crew members. On their way to the city of Bah Sing Sei, they had come across the campsite of Aang and the group, including an extra surprise; Amara. He hadn't expected ever seeing her again, and it was interesting to have her on his ship.

"You jerk. You've always been like this! Ignorant and selfish!" Amara yelled back at him, satisfied with the scowl on his face as he ordered one of the guards to take her to the prison hold, tossing her in the room she had been in previously, not really thinking it was all that bad in there, especially with the nice bed. This time, though, the door was locked, and all she heard before silence fell was Zuko's muttering as he passed by, and the slamming of the door as the prince entered his quarters.


End file.
